10 Feistiest Female Characters in Literature

As promised, it's time to talk about female literary characters. The UK did not do a poll about the most romantic female characters. I think this is because people do not tend to look at the female characters as being the "romantic" ones in literature.

So, I'm listing the 10 feistiest female characters - in my humble opinion of course. Feisty seemed to be a good counterpart to romantic.

1. Anne Shirley of Lucy Maud's Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables - she's the best. No doubt about it.
2. Marianne Dashwood of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility - I love Marianne. She's so free spirited and not afraid to leap into life. It ends up almost destroying her, but I still admire her for it.
   
3. Becky Sharpe of William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair - A scheming opportunist for sure but still a very strong female character.
4. Scarlett O'Hara of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind - the ultimate strong female character. She's a survivor.
   
5. Jo March of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women - she turns down Laurie and conventional life in search of finding her own identity. That's pretty cool!
6. Isolde of Tristan and Isolde - Tristan is totally to blame for the downfall of this couple.
7. Jane Eyre of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre - not many women could handle crazy hidden wives, gypsies, illegitimate children, and public scrutiny and still come out swinging.
   
8. Beatrice of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing - She gives Benedict such a hard time and I love her for it!
9. Elizabeth Bennett of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - She doesn't settle and I admire that.
   
10. Lily Mars of Booth Tarkington's Presenting Lily Mars - a little known book but a great one

Honorable mentions - these aren't quite "literary" characters but I love them anyway.

1. Hermione Granger of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series - Harry would have been in deep trouble without her.
2. Becky Bloomwood of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series - I want to be Becky Bloomwood. Enough said.
3. Mia Thermopolis of Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series - I swear when I read these books it's like Meg Cabot knows how I think.
4. Tatiana Metanova of Paullina Simons The Bronze Horseman - She goes through A LOT in this book and survives. That's feisty.